When it comes to the relationship between Marvel Studios films and television shows, things have really only flowed in one direction: the small screen stories have functioned as preambles and consequences for the big screen stories (in addition to borrowing characters), but we have not yet seen movies reflect what’s going on in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter or Daredevil. Many fans have wondered exactly why this is, but now Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has delivered a pretty cut and dry answer: it all has to do with production speeds.
Feige recently participated in a question and answer session during an event promoting the home video release of The Avengers: Age of Ultron, and according to IGN, he took part of the time to address why we haven’t seen characters or plotlines from Marvel Cinematic Universe shows effect the various films. He explained that it’s a lot easier for the shows to reflect the movies than having the movies reflect the shows, saying,
They're more nimble and faster and produce things quicker than we do, which is one of the main reasons you see the repercussions of Winter Soldier and Age of Ultron in the show.
For those who don’t follow along with the events on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the show dedicated a handful of episodes released around the time of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and gave fans an in-depth look at how the espionage agency was taken down from within by Hydra. The end of the last season earlier this year was also the first post-Age of Ultron material in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and presented audiences with elements of the fallout.
Difficult as it may be to get Marvel TV elements in Marvel films, however, it’s not something on which the studio has entirely given up. Specifically acknowledging the talented actors that the television branch has brought into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Feige said,
Going forward, and certainly as they begin to do more shows and cast them with such great actors as they have -- particularly Daredevil -- that that may occur. A lot of it is by the time we start doing a movie, they'd be midway through a season; by the time it comes out they'd be done with the second, starting the third season. Finding timing on that is not always easy.
Many fans have wondered if it’s possible that we could wind up seeing Charlie Cox’s Matthew Murdock/Daredevil in Captain America: Civil War, and perhaps even Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin in 2017’s Spider-Man, but the truth of the matter is that Clark Gregg’s Agent Coulson hasn’t even found his way back to the big screen since Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. launched the TV side of MCU developments. Still, we’re keeping our fingers crossed that it will happen someday.
